05 January 2011

how about cameron's house from ferris bueller's day off? it's for sale!

The famous home is located at 370 Beech St. and is surrounded by trees. With 5,300 square feet of living space, the 4 bedroom, 3 bath home has floor-to-ceiling windows throughout. In total, the home sits on a one acre lot with 43,560 square feet.

Built in 1953, this home was designed by extraordinary architects A. James Speyer and David Haid. (via)

Discovery Channel is teaming with the Vatican for an unprecedented new series hunting the deadliest catch of all: Demons.

The Exorcist Files will recreate stories of real-life hauntings and demonic possession, based on cases investigated by the Catholic Church. The project includes access into the Vatican’s case files, as well as interviews with the organization’s top exorcists — religious experts who are rarely seen on television. (via)

the boston globe has an interesting article about the evolution of the political soundbite as a media tool, namely, the continual reduction in its average length.

In the summer of 1992, just as George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot were gearing up for their presidential race, CBS announced a new policy for its nightly news. Starting immediately, the network would not use any sound bite — that is, any footage of a candidate speaking uninterrupted — that lasted less than 30 seconds.

If you’ve watched any political coverage since 1992, you know what happened: CBS’s experiment failed. This week, as Congress’s 112th session begins, the shrinking sound bite stands as a rare enemy of Republicans and Democrats alike. Whether running for president of the United States or for city council, politicians can count on seeing their words broken into ever smaller and more fragmentary bits. You might debate whom to blame — asked about nine-second sound bites, one TV executive replied, “the politicians started it” — but you can’t dispute the trend. In recent presidential elections, the average TV sound bite has dropped to a tick under eight seconds. A shorter, dumber, and shriller political discourse, it seems, has become another hazard of modern life. (via)